I'm concerned by this as well. I was trying a BlackBerry Tour in a Verizon store when my fiancee was getting a new phone (as her previous one has broken). I noticed, exactly as I expected, that Verizon crippled the bluetooth on it such that you could only use it for headsets and transferring contacts; no picture transfer, no file transfer, none of the features that phones on other networks have built in.

So what of it, Verizon? You're not presenting a very good case to a potential customer.

exactly! i read somewhere that the get-in-now content providers contract is part of the reason why, but i can't for the life of me get an honest answer out of verizon. there are international standards in place for a reason, and when those standards are broken, people get very confused.

i wanted to transfer four pictures from my tour to my desktop. here is the procedure with broken (let's call it what it is) bluetooth:

1. remove battery cover

2. remove memory card

3. insert memory card into memory card adapter

4. insert memory card adapter into card reader

5. find files on card

6. copy files from card to desktop

7. remove adapter from card reader

8. remove card from adapter

9. insert card into phone

10. replace battery cover

here's how it is done when bluetooth is not broken and the bluetooth partnership has been previously configured:

1. on desktop, initiate connection to phone

2. find files on phone

3. copy files from phone to desktop

so there is the applicable procedure to transfer files from your tour to your desktop, verizon-style.

I am a BlackBerry Curve user and everytime someone brings up Verizon "crippling phones" bluetooth is the first, almost only, item mentioned. I believe we can stipulate that Verizon cripples the bluetooth function on BlackBerry handsets. My question is this, what other features does Verizon "cripple"? I have been using my Curve for several months now and haven't found anything else I want to do on my phone that I cannot.

GPS is often crippled. they went through a class action lawsuit recently in california.

i could use the USB cable but that would defeat the purpose of bluetooth, had verizon not defeated it first.

forgot to mention tethering as well. did you know windows mobile phones and blackberry devices all come standard with tethering capability, but verizon removes it, then sells it back to you in the form of vzaccess?

I am a BlackBerry Curve user and everytime someone brings up Verizon "crippling phones" bluetooth is the first, almost only, item mentioned. I believe we can stipulate that Verizon cripples the bluetooth function on BlackBerry handsets. My question is this, what other features does Verizon "cripple"? I have been using my Curve for several months now and haven't found anything else I want to do on my phone that I cannot.

congratulations! i'm glad that you are happy with your phone!

however, i'm not you and i use my phone in different ways than you do. so saying that there isn't anything else on your phone that you want to use that is currently crippled is comparing apples and oranges.